If we were to make a word bubble of what our students say about their arts classes and clubs, these words would be the largest: acceptance, family, laughter, confidence-building, where I can be myself…

The arts are truly powerful. With 24 classes at Kelso High alone this year, we’re proud to offer a robust selection of offerings to enhance the learning and lives of our students.

Sustained learning in music and theater correlates strongly with higher achievement in both math and reading.[1]

Not only does music improve skills in math and reading, but it promotes creativity, social development, personality adjustment, and self-worth.[2]

Students who study art are 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and 3 times more likely to be awarded for school attendance.[3]

Curricular and extracurricular art studies and activities help keep high-risk dropout students stay in school.[4]

High school students who earned few or no arts credits were five times more likely not to have graduated than students who earned many arts credits.[5]

Students who had intensive arts experiences in high school were three times more likely than students who lacked those experiences to earn a bachelor’s degree. They also were more likely to earn “mostly A’s” in college. [5]

Performing arts students show greater flexibility and adaptability in thinking than their peers.[6]

Students who participate in the arts develop leadership skills, including decision-making, strategy building, planning, and reflection.[6]

Students who have had an arts-rich education volunteer more often and exhibit greater civic engagement than other students.[6]

Students with higher involvement in the arts scored better on measures of persistence than their peers with lower arts involvement.[6]

If you walk by the KHS auditorium on any given day after school, you’re likely to hear people running lines, breaking out in song, or letting out big belly laughs. It’s the Theatre Club holding their regular meeting. The 25 active members are most likely rehearsing, building sets, or planning fundraisers for the two main productions they put on each school year. They may also just be doing a little bit of team bonding. Not that they really need it.

Maekaili Russell agrees, “It’s everything we go through that makes us a family. We get to understand each other through the process of working together.”

There’s an overwhelming feeling of appreciation and acceptance among the group that’s easy to see; making the vulnerability that comes with acting and performing a little easier.

“Once you enter, you understand that no one will judge you for anything. At all,” Taya Deal emphasized. “You can do the chicken dance and people would join you.”

This year, the club has put on Arsenic and Old Lace and Love’s Labour’s Lost. The dedicated group is completely self-funded. With the average play costing about $2,000 to produce, and the average musical costing $3,500, fundraising is a near constant endeavor. Being part of Theatre Club also requires a fair amount of DIY time, as the students build, paint, disassemble and rebuild their own sets. For all that these students put in, they get even more out.

“I struggle with anxiety and theater helps me break from that shell,” shared Lauren Cramtom. “I can get up and perform for people, but I can’t always talk to them. It helps me realize that people aren’t so scary.”

Rowan Bratton added, “Since being in theater, I’m able to show more of my emotions.” And Levi Redmill said, “Theater helped me build more lasting and meaningful relationships; and how to help others when they’re not feeling great.”

With added benefits like that, it’s no wonder club alumni come back to support current members. Some even travel quite a way to do it, like Michael McMahon who takes a six-hour train ride from Western Washington University to see shows.

That’s not really too surprising to club advisor Sharayah Lovell, whose own passion for theater is hard to beat. She’s been doing theater since she was in third grade and is quick to say one of the best things is “getting to experience this thing I love with them. These kids are phenomenal.”

At Kelso High School, the arts are alive and well. The robust program has 24 classes taught by 10 passionate teachers; and the quality of their teaching is evidenced by the many successes of their students.

For example, in band, 29 students went to state competition this April, five students made all-state honor groups and another 16 are part of other honor bands. Visual arts students bring home numerous regional awards every year, and KHS students have won first place in the Ceramics Showcase in Portland for the last three years in a row. Thirteen theater students are active members in the International Thespian Society, and 16 more are eligible for induction, which takes place at the end of the year. These are just a handful of the many accomplishments stemming from the arts departments.

Even more important and impressive than the awards and accolades is the growth and development of the students. And that blossoms so well due to the culture nurtured in these classes.

“The kids are really supportive of each other. There’s never a judgmental vibe, so it’s a safe place for them,” said art teacher TJ Frey. “When they trust us, and each other, enough to really put themselves out there, that’s when you see really cool art.”

Theater teacher Sharayah Lovell agrees, and has seen students go from being nervous or shy to being able to explore characters and “stand up in front of people and say anything. They learn how to be vulnerable.”

Arts education also has a unifying force. “We all come from different homes, religions, backgrounds,” says band teacher Daniel Hartley. “That doesn’t matter, because for the next 10 minutes we’re all going to play ONE piece of music together.”

All the arts teachers agree that the classes are about more than the name in the course catalog. “We have a saying here,” Hartley confirms, “you’re here to learn about music and life.”

Frey adds, “It’s about expression, whether it’s band or art or theater. It’s about acceptance, that safe space to develop yourself. The arts lend themselves to self-discovery.”

We’re seeing a steady decline in the number of kids coming to school ready for kindergarten. Some of the ways lack of readiness shows up is in a student’s ability (or not) to walk in lines, self-regulate, work with others, identify letters, or recognize their own name when it’s written.

Early learning is one of our top district priorities. In addition to providing additional supports for teachers to meet kids where they are, we’re working on ways to help more kids come to kindergarten ready to learn.

Percent of Kelso School District kids ready in all 6 areas of development over time:

Percent of Kelso School District kids ready by area of development in 2018-19:

# of Development Areas
K-Ready in 2018

Kelso SD

WA

Longview SD

Vancouver SD

0 of 6

24%

7.8%

13.9%

2.8%

6 of 6

11.4%

44.9%

25.4%

56%

Percent of qualifying kids in Head Start programs:

95% in Longview

50% in Kelso (due to lack of space)

What we’re doing to help:

The district is looking for more space for Head Start programs and partnerships

We’re looking for grants to fund kindergarten readiness training for ALL pre-K and day care providers and teachers in Kelso.

Did you know?

71% of kids who are behind when starting kindergarten are still behind in 5th grade (Children’s Reading Foundation)

70% of the achievement gap is created before the beginning of second grade and most likely between birth and kindergarten (Northwest Evaluation Association)

What care givers can do:

20 minutes of reading a day builds attachment, resilience and empathy

Label household items so kids see letters in relation to things

Play with purpose

Find all the red vegetables

Count toys in a box

Identify shapes

Look at the Readiness Family Checklist by Spokane Public Schools for more: bit.ly/k-readiness

The number of kids entering kindergarten ready to learn in Kelso has been on a steady decline for the last three years. Kinder teachers in the district are seeing the impacts of that readiness gap, and having to find ways to lessen it.

“Kindergartners are entering with few tools to deal with their social-emotional needs,” agreed Barnes Elementary teacher Julie Brigman. “Yet, it feels like they need the tools more now than ever.”

“To aide in this, we spend the fall teaching kids how to problem solve and manage emotions effectively,” said Cherie Gaston, another kindergarten teacher at Barnes. “We teach, practice, and encourage them to apply these skills in order to improve their ability to self-regulate and be competent socially & emotionally.”

In addition to social-emotional and literacy, other areas of development include physical, cognitive, language, and math. Gaston and Brigman have noticed gaps in all six areas. “The one that has the most impact, though, is language,” said Gaston. “We are trying to mitigate that gap by creating language rich classrooms full of exposure to books, new vocabulary and experiences, conversation, environmental print…”

“We use GLAD strategies (Guided Language Acquisition and Design) and have seen improvement in our students’ oral language skills with the use of Open Court (a reading program) in our classrooms,” said Brigman.

All three teachers agree that the importance of early learning can’t be overstated. “Students with preschool experience have advantages both academically and socially,” said Berry. These students come in recognizing letters and numbers, and are more prepared for classroom structure.

“Students that attend quality early learning programs start school with a toolbox full of skills,” said Brigman, “which helps them have an easier and often more successful transition into elementary school.”

Wherever they’re at when they come in, the growth in these students is impressive. “Kindergarten is the best because you see so many gains academically and socially,” said Berry.

Gaston and Brigman concur. “Many of our students began the year knowing zero to few letters and sounds, and in the spring, they are beginning to read and write sentences,” said Gaston. “Their social-emotional growth coupled with their language development, is tremendous too.”

“You start with kids unable to verbally share a complete thought or make friends, and end with them able to problem solve and brimming with new friendships,” said Brigman.

Jennilee Dunlap’s class at Catlin Elementary is one of five preschool classes in the district, and is the only medically fragile developmental preschool class. Some students in the class have high medical needs, some have disabilities that require one-to-one support, and some have challenges socially or emotionally; all her students receive specially designed instruction.

“The students in my class are all at different skill levels,” Dunlap said. “Some students come in knowing how to identify their name in print, some kids can already identify letters, and others cannot point to pictures or turn pages in a book. I started the year teaching all of these things.”

Given specific and consistent support for academic development as well as social and emotional skills, the children in Dunlap’s class make great strides.

“I have seen all levels of improvement in my students. One student was unable to communicate without mimicking single words (i.e., hi, more, moo, etc.). She is now able to independently use words, combine some words (i.e. go play, cracker please, etc.), and she is able to get her needs met when she does this,” shared Dunlap. Another student has made so much progress that she was able to drop two areas of special education services.

If you ask Dunlap about the importance of early learning programs, she’ll tell you they’re life-changing.

“I have personally and professionally seen the difference an early learning program can make for a child. It can make the greatest difference, especially for students who have borderline or low skills in adaptive, social/emotional, cognitive, communication, fine motor, or gross motor areas. Some students have entered our program with very limited skills, but have made such good progress they are able to be in general education kindergarten classes.”

Dunlap believes if we had more programs available for more students (with and without special education services) in our community, more kids could start kindergarten with the pre-academic knowledge, the behavior management practice, and the social skills to participate and succeed.

“We have an amazing opportunity to grow our early learning programs to meet the needs of the kids in our community. I am excited to see how Kelso will work together to support our youngest students in the future.”

For one hour, one day a week, true magic happens in the structured learning classroom (SLC) at Wallace. The nine students in that class are there because their behavioral needs or mental health benefits from a more supported and structured environment. On Thursdays, they get a very special visit that just may be changing everything for them.

One or two students from the Kelso High School SLC visit the Wallace SLC to do an activity with them. What looks like play, is really a powerful form of mentoring.

“It’s a beautiful thing when they see a teenager who was right where they are,” said Nancy Baldwin, Instructional Aide at Kelso High. “Each one of these littles has related to one of the teenagers we bring in some way.”

The high school students do puzzles or play with putty with the elementary students. It’s during this play time that magic happens. They talk about how they, too, have struggled to control their anger; or how they know how hard it can be to adjust to new medications.

“When I was little, I had no one to talk to like this,” said Nathaniel Reed, KHS SLC student and most frequent of the seven different mentors.

Having older peers acknowledge the younger ones’ struggles, and let them know they’re not alone, makes them feel better about themselves. And that helps them pause and make different choices.

“The kids see me as a buddy that can help them with what’s going on with them,” said Jordan Barrett, another KHS SLC mentor. “It’s a really big deal.”

Big deal, indeed. When asked what it would have been like to have a mentor like them when they were in elementary school, Jordan said it would have helped them through a lot. And for Nathaniel, “It would have changed everything.”

Kelsey Rodman, KHS SLC Teacher, started this program last year and couldn’t be happier with it. Not only is it helping the elementary students, but she also sees behavioral improvement in the high school mentors after they’ve had some time with the kids at Wallace. “The best part is when you hear them saying ‘I’m making good choices because I want to.’”

Every school day at 3:00 pm you can find the five-person Social Emotional Learning (SEL) team sitting around a table debriefing about the day. This small, but mighty, group is responsible for implementing processes that are changing how teaching and learning happens in our schools.

Starting their work just last summer, they’ve delivered trainings and presentations, vetted curricula, and done a lot of foundational work.

The team will be the first to say they’re just getting started. “There’s so much more to do,” adds Jake Alabiso, District SEL Coordinator. An instrumental architect in this process from the beginning, he affirms this isn’t about quick fixes. “This is about building a really strong system of supports.”

As part of those supports, the team has put dedicated spaces called Social Emotional Centers in each elementary school. There, students can get structured support or just have a place to quietly regulate. Also at every elementary school are teams for implementing positive behavior intervention supports in three tiers.

Although the programs and intentional focus on SEL is new, the effort is paying off.

“Teachers and principals are all telling us it’s working, and the early data backs that up,” said Don Iverson, Director of Student Services. “We’re seeing a 25% reduction in suspensions from this time last year across the district, and in-school suspensions are down by 7%.”

The team will roll out this great work to secondary schools next school year.

At this time last year, Kelso citizens overwhelmingly voted to approve a construction bond and educational levy to improve the learning experience for our students. We are so thankful for the support and generosity of our community, and continue to work diligently to be good stewards of the funds allocated for public education ($98.6 million bond plus $59.4 million in state match funds for a total of $158 million).

After considerable input from the community, we ran the bond based on six priorities that rose to the top: safety and security, elementary school replacements, school modernization, adding and updating classrooms, traffic and parking, and updating athletic facilities. Since passing the bond and levy on February 13, 2018, we haven’t stopped working to make these priorities a reality for our students, staff and families. One year later, here are a few facts and figures about some of the 100 construction-related projects planned. Visit WeAreKelso.org for frequent updates.

Safety & Security

6 – systems slated to be updated/added to improve safety and security across the district (door access control, video surveillance, exterior lighting, fencing, building design modifications, and communication systems)

With school replacements making up the lion’s share of the budget for our bond projects ($92.9 million of the $158 million total), it’s no surprise that the majority of the work done so far has been focused on building new elementary schools. Projects of this scale require a robust team with varying strengths and areas of expertise.

Enter our school construction team, made up of 12 professionals from four organizations: Kelso School District, Construction Services Group (CSG) from ESD 112, Integrus Architecture, and FORMA Construction Company. Experts from each organization have been working diligently on improving our facilities, some for over two years now.

“We really began working with CSG to determine the state of our facilities and see where the greatest needs were in January 2017,” said Scott Westlund, Chief Financial Officer for the district. CSG members have been instrumental in managing the many moving parts of our bond projects, including helping to find architects and contractors.

Integrus was interviewed and selected through a competitive process as the architectural firm to design the new schools. They facilitated stakeholder committee meetings for months to determine the educational specifications needed for our schools and get input on design elements.

Then, through a highly competitive process, FORMA was selected as our General Contractor/Construction Manager (GCCM) to build the schools. Bringing them in for industry expertise just before final design schematics were drawn helps to minimize change orders down the road and get sub-contractors secured early, both of which assist in keeping construction costs down.

Even then, unanticipated conditions caused a cost overrun of roughly $14 million for the school replacement projects. The schematic design estimating process revealed the unprecedented rise of labor and materials costs, and geotechnical engineering results at both the Wallace and Lexington sites indicated soil and ground conditions that require deep, robust soil improvements to ensure the foundation systems meet today’s building standards for public spaces.

The team came together and vetted multiple options to bring the total cost back within budget. After several open houses and a public hearing to gather community input, the school board approved a solution – combining two of the three new elementary schools into one larger school at the Lexington site in order to meet all the priorities of our bond measure.

“Even with a few cost challenges, it’s been an exciting adventure. We will continue to make the learning environment for Kelso students engaging, state-of-the-art, and safe,” said Superintendent Mary Beth Tack. “With our talented and dedicated team, we’re looking forward to great things for the Kelso students, staff, and community.”

Kelso School District #458 complies with all federal rules and regulations and does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups listed in Title 36 of the United States Code. The following employee(s) has been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Tim Peterson, Director of Human Resources, the school district's Title VII Officer and ADA Coordinator. People of disability may request reasonable accommodation in the hiring process by contacting, Tim Peterson, Director of Human Resources, 601 Crawford Street, Kelso, WA 98626 or (360) 501-1924.
Inquiries regarding compliance procedures regarding students may be directed to Don Iverson, Director of Student Services, the school district’s Title IX Coordinator or Denise Freund, Director of Special Programs, the school district’s Section 504 Coordinator, 601 Crawford Street, Kelso, WA 98626 (360) 501-1900.